RINNAI IN MALTA - Providing hot water heating on an exotic Island
Energy saving and conservation Solutions, led by Franco Bileci, has been the sole supplier of Rinnai products on the beautiful island of Malta since 2007. During this time, Franco has supplied and installed products and systems on thousands of sites, mainly in 'home, but also in everything. types of commercial sites such as hotels, medical facilities and retirement homes.
The company was founded in 2007 by Franco when family connections in Australia suggested that the Rinnai product range could fit Malta. Franco soon realised that the best way to improve the business and ensure long-term customer satisfaction was to ensure that his company also completed the installation.
“Malta has a very specific set of climatic and geological conditions – it only harvests about 50% of its water via natural means such as rainfall or wells & bore holes and the rest of it comes from desalination plants. Water quality needs constant attention. This means that we need to take this into account with each installation. The island is built on limestone, which adds to these peculiarities,” says Franco.
Fuel is another source of energy on the island - it comes in the form of electricity bought from neighboring Sicily and liquid natural gas from LNG. There is a large terminal and storage facility for LNG supply at the port of Marsaxlokk, located southwest of the capital Valletta.
“All sites with Rinnai units use bottled gas and all have a system of changeover, so they run dry. To the outsider it is reasonable to expect that solar power would be a major source of energy, but it At the moment the Government does give grants on both solar thermal and heat pumps. However solar is not enough especially in winter when the temperature drops and the sun has its limits. But Malta is not the only place in the world with some eccentricities!” says Franco.
Although the domestic site represents the majority of Franco's buisness, he is also establishing rapidly on the commercial side. All commercial sites use bottled gas - one such installation is in a nursing home with hundreds of patients and staff. Here, Franco installed 3 x 1600i N Series, along with along with calorifiers.
“This site has a plant room,” says Franco,” which is convenient for the installation as it has the room for a dedicated space. In other sites, especially hotels, they do not want to give up space that can be earning them money through letting
more bedrooms for guests. At hotels the installation and bottled gas storage tends toalmost always be on the rooftop. It is very awkward for the delivery men but carrying gas bottles, two at a time, it helps
them get very fit!”
“One hotel customer – he has 35 rooms, open all year and with an occupancy rate approaching 90% has 2 x Rinnai 1600e units. It only really uses one unit, the other is back-up as they simply don't want the problems of not providing hot water to guests.
“But” adds Franco, “we are also looking at designing and installing a Hybrid system, utilising one of the Rinnai Low GWP heat pumps at a hotel undergoing a major refit. He adds, “The owner is keen to minimise energy costs on heating hot water but not at the expense of quality and all the other benefits a Rinnai system offers - durability, dependability, cost efficiency.
“Rinnai offers constant and consistent flow rates, plus temperature accurate delivery on demand. A stored system would struggle to cope with the peak demands. The Rinnai product range is valued and perceived on the island as being a product of excellence delivering a premium performance to each and every site.
“This site has a plant room,” says Franco,” which is convenient for the installation as it has the room for a dedicated space. In other sites, especially hotels, they do not want to give up space that can be earning them money through letting
more bedrooms for guests. At hotels the installation and bottled gas storage tends to almost be on the rooftop. It is very awkward for the delivery men but carrying gas bottles, two at a time, it helps them get very fit!”
“One hotel customer – he has 35 rooms, open all year and with an occupancy rate approaching 90%. He has 2 x Rinnai 1600e units. It only really uses one unit, the other is back-up as they simply don't want the problems of not providing hot water to guests.
“But” adds Franco, “we are also looking at designing and installing a Hybrid system, utilising one of the Rinnai Low GWP heat pumps at a hotel undergoing a major refit. He adds, “The owner is keen to minimise energy costs on heating hot water but not at the expense of quality and all the other benefits a Rinnai system offers - durability, dependability, cost efficiency.
“Rinnai offers constant and consistent flow rates, plus temperature accurate delivery on demand. A stored system would struggle to cope with the peak demands. The Rinnai product range is valued and perceived on the island as being a product of excellence delivering a premium performance to each and every site.
Franco has several Rinnai H1 BioLPG water heating installations and now expects H2 hybrid solar thermal and heat pump solutions with advanced H3 heat pump technology.
Malta is a bustling and prosperous island of almost half a million people with significant foreign investment in financial services, tourism and gambling - it is also home to a large fleet of yachts and yachts. the water flows. In this context, Franco Bileci wants to develop his business with a measured progress so that every customer of Energy Saving Solutions benefits from the best products and services.
